Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Let’s Move to Texas, Daddy! (It’s Safe)
One of the fun things about children (besides their painfully adorable naivety) is that as they grow and begin to take up new hobbies you discover that no matter your age, you can still grow too. Take for instance Tristan’s recent decision to take up guitar lessons. We went and met with his instructor last night and discovered that he prefers, at this age, that the parent spend time practicing with their child. So now I’m taking guitar lessons too. Go figure. Hey, I know it won’t hurt. I will, of course, now need to learn how to play Hotel California. I’ve spent the last day agonising over what sort of guitar to buy. I don’t want to spend a fortune, but I don’t want something that is absolute crap. The instructor recommended a Ruben Flores Guitar, but when I googled it I came up with almost no information, which sort of makes me nervous. I don’t suppose you have any suggestions, I need a classical acoustic guitar.
What you missed: Grand Theft Auto IV Dated For April Gizmondo Rising Again In 2008? Yes, Says Plextek Frankenreview – No More Heroes (Wii) Teabagging In Our Schools EA Fighting Mad About Fox News, But Still No Correction No Reservations Meets Uwe Boll British Gov Doesn’t Want Fat Kids Anymore
Nintendo’s financial results for the previous quarter, released earlier today, were nothing less than impressive. What’s even potentially more impressive was how quickly it appears the Wii will overtake lifetime-to-date sales of its predecessor, the Nintendo GameCube. According to Nintendo’s own numbers, the GameCube had sold 21.72 million units over the course of its six year-plus lifespan, as of December 31, 2007. The Wii, just 14 months on the market, has sold 20.13 million, putting the waggle-box a mere 1.59 million units behind the ‘Cube.
In Wii terms, that ain’t nothin’.
With Nintendo now manufacturing 1.8 million Wiis a month and seemingly selling every on of those consoles, it won’t be long until the Wii overtakes the GameCube, if it hasn’t already.
While Frontlines: Fuel of War for PS3 has been left to rot on a developer’s hard drive somewhere, the Xbox 360 and PC version are still very much underway.
Yesterday, the game, along with a few THQ representatives, made their up from their HQ in Melbourne to show off the latest build to us Sydney-based games journos in the best fashion possible – a multiplayer shoot-out.
I managed to get a solid four hours of gaming in (busy day at work, I know), and if you don’t mind a bit of reading, I’d like to share my impressions, and later, some cake.
I may have neglected to mention that on Thursday I spent a significant chuck of the afternoon playing Frontlines: Fuel of War multiplayer on Xbox 360. I’m writing my impressions as you read this. Expect them before the end of the day, or slightly before the end of the day.
Until then, here’s a few of the freebies the THQ guys gave out at the event. Above is the “Drone to Kill” T-shirt that comes with the Xbox 360 Collector’s Edition and after the jump you’ll find the poster (with added thong goodness) packed into the PC and 360 CEs.
This week’s hardware chart shows that console sales in Japan had a slow week during January 14 to 20, with a noticeable drop from the week prior. The PlayStation 3 dropped the least, holding on to respectable if headline-avoiding sales. Amid no new releases for the past few weeks, we shouldn’t be surprised. And we aren’t. We’re just a little impressed at the PSP’s ability to hang tight with casual gamer darling the Wii.
Nintendo DS Lite – 88,575 Wii – 81,638 PSP – 79,923 PlayStation 3 – 38,117 PlayStation 2 – 13,539 Xbox 360 – 4,552I wish I could drum up this much enthusiasm, but I suppose when you’re going to be one of the first games out of the gate to take advantage of the Wii Fit balance board, giving Japanese consumers something do to between intense sitting or standing sessions, you’d be excited, too. Seriously, look how much fun this family is having! Hugs all around!
If you can find the time to duck into your local Kmart, or perhaps even walk into it, you’ll be in an excellent position to pick up one or more of these licensed vinyl Super Mario Bros. figurines.
According to the press release that Nick over at Gizmodo AU sent through, each figurine will set you back $6.99, or you can pick up the limited edition collector tins for $14.99 each.
The tins come in three combinations: Mario and Bob-omb (a photo of which is available after the jump); Luigi and Paragoomba; and Yoshi and Bullet Bill.
Apparently production is “strictly limited” so there’s only so many of these figurines to go round. If you’re a big fan, you’d best get a move on.
Microsoft revealed its own financial results for the previous quarter today, showing the the company’s Xbox division—better known as the Entertainment & Devices Division, which also includes the Zune and more—was profitable. Again! That makes two quarters in a row that the division succeeded in not losing money, something that should please Master Gates, J Allard and investors. The group pulled in $US 357 million in operating income for the final quarter of calendar year 2007, much better than the loss of $US 302 million in 2006.
That puts Microsoft’s E&DD team up over a half-billion for fiscal year 2008, which, if they continue to perform positively, will go a long to proving Robbie Bach right about profitability. Hey, they might not be Nintendo numbers, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Do I hear some of you chanting three-peat(TM)?
Microsoft Reports Record Second Quarter Results [Microsoft]
Now that publisher THQ has squeezed the Juiced franchise out of its software line-up, what will become of its developer, Juice Games? Juice’s Colin Bell says to GamesIndustry.biz that the team will soldier on, creating two new titles. Bell says that the axing of the franchise from THQ was “disappointing” but that the team was “working on two very fresh and exciting projects that I can’t discuss but the whole office is buzzing with the work we’ve done here recently.”
We can only hope that the Juice boys go on to generate more product that results in advertising on booty shorts and more “banned” commercials that feature full nudity and the forceful removal of women’s clothing. Our hobby’s teenage boys need third-rate racing games now more than ever!
Juice Games working on two new projects [GamesIndustry.biz]
